USU voted most impressive historic college, but is it?
When a website named Utah State University the most impressive historic college campus in the United States, the story caught the attention of students and began circulating on social media. But by the site’s own standards, Utah State may not actually be qualified for the honor.
The website, College Values Online, has compiled more than a dozen lists of colleges — lists like, “30 Best Value Agricultural Colleges 2015” and “Top 10 Cheapest Online Master’s Degrees 2015.” For “20 Most Impressive Historic College Campuses in the U.S.,” the schools had to have at least three historic buildings, landmarks or historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places. This was in addition to other criteria, like climate, mountain views and architectural style.
While USU still has three buildings on the registry, one of them was demolished more than two years ago.
Lund Hall — or the women’s residence hall — was built in 1936-37 as part of the New Deal program in Utah. According to the statement of historical significance for Lund Hall, the three-story dormitory was built “in such a manner that sunshine is available in every girl’s room.” In 1985, it was added to the National Historic Registry, but it was demolished to make room for Huntsman Hall in 2013.
Paul Lusignan is a reviewer for the National Parks Service for 12 states, including Utah. He said not realizing Lund Hall had been demolished might have been an easy mistake for College Values Online to make.
“Until someone is notified here that the property needs to be removed, it still turns up in our database,” Lusignan said. “Three properties are still considered listed. No one started the full process to unlist the registered building.”
Currently, Lund Hall, Old Main and the Family Life building are registered. Lusignan said there’s no requirement for the university to remove properties from the registry, although it occasionally causes confusion.
Since federal funding did not go into renovating or updating the building, Lund Hall’s historic status could not prevent the university from demolishing it.
“The school is free to demolish it, according to federal law, at least,” Lusignan said. “In almost no circumstance does it absolutely prevent demolition. In the end, if the agency decides to, then they can do that.”
Norman Jones, a professor who has worked with the university since 1979, thinks Utah State has an impressive history despite the error by College Values Online.
“I think that we’ve got many eras of architecture,” Jones said. “With the registry, you kind of do that yourself. So I suspect with the amount of buildings we have, it could be on the list if they just looked around. Ray B. West should be there too — it’s the same era as Family Life.”
In order to be considered for the National Register of Historic Places, a building needs to be at least 50 years old, retain its architectural integrity and be significant nationally, statewide or locally. Most of the buildings around the quad — including the David B. Haight Alumni House and the public relations office — were built in the same era as Old Main.
“If you think about how campus grew, the historic core is there, and they haven’t messed it up. It still feels like it has a center, with the quad and student center,” Jones said. “It has a historic center. If you look at the famous historic campuses, they all have that.”
Jones said there is pressure for old universities to lose that “center” as they grow. He referred to an incident in 1984 when Old Main caught fire and suffered water damage.
“They could’ve just knocked it down,” he said. “But instead they put the money into rebuilding it and maintaining it historically. As the needs of campus change, you have to make some decisions. We’ve made some good decisions.”
History instructor Ross Peterson has been employed at USU off and on since 1971, but he was a student here in ’50s.
“I think probably the biggest change is you kind of filled up the space with the new buildings,” Peterson said. “When I first came here as a student, there seemed to be a lot more open space. The school has grown.”
Peterson is especially fond of Old Main.
“You’ve got a flagship for the university that’s been here since the beginning,” Peterson said. “With the quad, maintaining the historic buildings around it is important.”
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